Results 1-20 of 15,342 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Parental Choice in Education: Motion [Private Members] (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dail Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that: — the Government recognises the importance of parental choice; and — the Government is committed to seeking to increase choice for parents by ensuring that families can access both multi/non-denominational and faith-based education, in line with the Programme...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm to the Deputy that my department is in receipt of an application for funding from the school in question. This application for temporary accommodation is being assessed under the department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and special education needs (SEN) accommodation is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: This school was approved under the Additional School Accommodation Scheme 2022 to provide one mainstream classroom. The project has been devolved for delivery to the School Authority. The school proceeded to Stage 2b (planning) without the mandatory departmental approval. The school were advised of this by the Department and asked to submit their estimated cost plan for review. Comments...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Major Building Project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning Stage 2b – Detailed Design, which includes the application for all statutory consents, including Planning Permission, Disability Access Certification and Fire Safety Certification and the preparation of the Tender documentation. All statutory consents have been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: Education and Training Boards (ETBs) were established under the Education and Training Boards Act, 2013 (www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2012/83/) which provides that each ETB is a statutory body having its own corporate status. It is therefore the responsibility of each ETB to manage the day-to-day operation of the organisation, including the management of staff. It should be noted that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Circulars (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: Membership of Public Bodies Leave is available to post primary teachers who are members of public bodies such as county councils or statutory local bodies. However this leave is not a statutory entitlement. While the employer should take reasonable measures to facilitate the request, they must ensure the educational, welfare and care needs of students takes precedence. The current rules...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm to the Deputy that my department is in receipt of an application for funding from the school in question. This application for temporary accommodation has been assessed under the department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and special education needs (SEN) accommodation is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The project referred to by the Deputy has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects. The brief for the project is to provide a new build replacement school for a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils including a 4 class SEN base. The project is currently in the final stages of Stage 2b. Once a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the Department’s pipeline of school buildings to provide 4 Mainstream classrooms, 2 classroom SEN base and ancillary. I can confirm that this project recently received the Departments approval to go to stage 2a and the Department now awaits submission of a stage 2a report. The preferred option selected for progression has...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred by the Deputy has been approved to enter the Department's pipeline for school building projects, to provide one mainstream classroom and one special education teaching (SET) room under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme.A Stage 1/2a report was submitted and reviewed from both a technical and cost perspective in accordance with the requirements of the public...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the departments pipeline of school buildings projects to provide the following accommodation: 8 general classrooms, 4 special education tuition rooms, 1 music room, 1 textiles room, 1 art room, 1 project store, 1 multimedia room, 2 science laboratories and preparation area, 1 library and a general purpose dining hall. The project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers was approved to enter the Department’s pipeline of projects under the Additional School Accommodation Scheme for the provision of 11 general classrooms, 3 SET rooms, 1 multimedia room, 1 textiles room, 1 science lab and prep area, 2 classroom SEN base and the removal of 3 prefabs. An additional SEN base was added to the project a few months after...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: There are 5 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) providing primary Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Ireland; four State-funded providers and one private provider. Each of the four primary State-funded providers has both concurrent (undergraduate) and consecutive (postgraduate) programmes: These are:DCU Institute of EducationMarino Institute of EducationMaynooth University (Froebel...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Staff (8 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: There are 354 members of staff with an annual salary of over €100,000 employed by my Department. The range and number are tabulated below. Number of Staff Range 262 100,001 - 120,000 79 120,001 - 150,000 2 150,001 - 180,000 10 180,001 - 210,000 1 ...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (7 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. About 172,000 young people access the school transport scheme. Many of those are children with additional needs. The programme for Government sets out very clearly that we will expand the scheme even further. There is no set timeline, and the expansion has to be done across the lifetime of the current Government, but we have set a very clear...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (7 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: Tackling educational disadvantage and supporting students to fulfil their full potential in life is a key priority for my Department, and for the government. The DEIS programme is a key policy of government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. It provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to all schools, such as the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (7 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, the current requirements for the mandatory ‘Tréimhse Foghlama sa Ghaeltacht’ or Gaeltacht Learning Periods (GLPs) for primary Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes takes the form of 2 x 2-week placements, which are outlined in the Teaching Council’s Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education. Budget 2020 provided for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (7 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers submitted an application for funding under the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) for an external environments project. The purpose of the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies. It does so by ensuring the availability of funding for urgent works to those schools that are in need of resources as a result of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (7 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015 the Teaching Council is the body with the statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland including the registration of teachers in the state. It is a function of the Council under the Teaching Council Acts (s7(2)) to act as the competent authority for recognition of qualifications obtained by a person...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (7 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a priority for this Government. Providing inclusive education to children with special educational needs is a fundamental principle of my Department’s education and training system. This principle is put into practice through the policies of my Department and the Teaching Council and...